Your Value as a Realtor®: 7 Things Agents Should Do After a Closing

Help agents dazzle past clients, cultivate customers for life, and increase referrals by becoming a long-term indispensable resource.

By Lee Nelson

A woman in her mid-60s inherited enough cash to purchase her first home. She had $80,000; however, it’s difficult to find a house for that price in her home town of Nashville. Enter William Willoughby, broker-owner at Music City Group Real Estate in Nashville, who came through for this buyer by finding a little HUD home that needed a water heater and other renovations. It was a good brick house in a nice neighborhood, but he just couldn’t put her in the home, shake hands, and say good-bye after the closing. He felt compelled to make sure she found the right workers to get the remodel completed in the 30-day deadline given by HUD.

“I told her I would stay with her for 30 days and be her project manager. I lined up all the contractors to make it a home that she could live in,” Willoughby said. Since then, he has helped six of her family members in buying and selling homes. “Nurturing our past clients and making sure we are here for them is a top priority.”

Treating clients well, even after the closing, can lead to more business and possibly a friend for life. Here are seven ways your agents can go above and beyond for their clients after a closing:

1. Automatically do seven-day and 30-day follow-ups. Tell agents to make it a standard practice and add these follow-up dates into their CRM or calendar. Agents should call their clients to see how they are enjoying their new home and ask if they need anything. Usually by then, people are elated they have made it through the process of finding a home and moving, Willoughby said.

2. Remember special dates. Agents should make sure every past client is on their personal holiday card list. Consider mailing birthday cards or closing day anniversary cards, said Keith Bliss, broker-owner at Bliss Real Estate powered by eXp Realty in RaleighDurham, N.C. The number one rule is to stay in touch with clients the way they prefer you to stay in touch, he said.

3. Show up when they are moving in. Bringing over a bottle of wine, a pizza, or an item that signifies the area will go a long way with clients. Willoughby and his agents give a piece of wall art native to Nashville showing different communities. During the visit, agents can ask if the clients need any local recommendations or contractor referrals.

4. Be visible in your community. Encourage agents to be active in their markets while communicating their community efforts through client-targeted newsletters, emails, or Facebook posts. “They really give out candies (on a float!) at the local 4th of July parade. Whatever the event may be, send clients a personal invite. And, if your company supports a local nonprofit, get clients involved with you.

7. Create (and update) a list of contractors and vendors. Compile a list of service providers your agents can email to their sphere. It can be useful, even for those folks who bought a house 10 years ago. Or, create a client survey and ask former customers to rate their deck builder, home inspector, dog groomer, hair stylist, or any other

Izabelle Sales Manager

As 2023 comes to a close, we are reflecting on our gratitude for an amazing first year of business. Thank you so much to everyone that has supported us.

We are extra grateful to introduce our newest Escrow Officer, Britney Bown. Welcome to the family!

Homeownership Horrors: Help Your Clients Avoid Mishaps

Most horrors come about when home buyers, in excitement, make an ill-advised home purchase and make the mistake of buying without a proper inspection.

By Melissa Dittmann Tracey

Homeownership can be scary.

Anna Altic, a real estate broker at RE/MAX Homes and Estates in Nashville, Tenn., knows that from her own experience. She once was awakened by several “super-freaked-out birds” flying around in her bedroom. And that was after watching an episode of “Game of Thrones” before bedtime. The lesson Altic learned: Check your chimney caps to make sure unwanted visitors stay out.

That’s unsettling—but some homeownership stories are even more frightening. Recently, construction crews bulldozed an Atlanta home only to realize they had the wrong address. The homeowner returned home from vacation to find her home in piles of wood. In another recent incident, the owners of a short-term rental in San Francisco faced a mess after their Airbnb guests left a clogged toilet running for 15 hours, which flooded the entire building. The owners, who lived in the unit below, were left homeless with more than $300,000 in debt. Those examples are extremes, but even a broken HVAC system or a water leak could result in thousands of dollars in damage. A home inspection may help uncover potential problems before a purchase, but more than a quarter of buyers are waiving the inspection contingency, according to the latest Realtors® Confidence Index.

“Getting an inspection before committing to a property can help you avoid a spooky situation once you’re the owner,” said attorney Claudia Cobreiro, founder of Cobreiro Law in Miami. “An inspection can help reveal any defects with the property that may not be apparent to the naked eye or to an unsophisticated buyer.”

Real estate pros have witnessed the ups and downs of homeownership and learned a few lessons to help your clients avoid potential mishaps in ownership.

Lesson: Get Insurance Lined Up Immediately

Kristy Kyle, a broker at RE/MAX Executive in Fort Mill, N.C., recalled how clients of hers spotted leaking from the air conditioning unit in the attic of their threestory condo. The clients called in a professional, who discovered the unit was frozen and worked to thaw out the system. The next day, the home caught fire.

“Thank goodness the neighbors called the fire department immediately,” Kyle said. “A few more minutes and the home would have been engulfed.” The fire was contained to the attic, but the water to put out the fire made the home unlivable and destroyed most of the owner’s belongings. “It was a total reconstruction job,” Kyle said.

What’s more, “they did not have homeowners’ insurance at the time since they were still moving in. It was on their list of things to do,” Kyle said. Luckily, their homeowners association’s insurance covered all the damages under the master policy. But Kyle says the experience is a lesson: “I want to tell everyone this story so that they make sure insurance is in place as soon as the home is closed,” Kyle said. “This was a cash sale, so it was not required.”

Lesson: Don’t Shrug Off Red Flags

“The greatest homebuying horror is buying a financial sinkhole,” said Rinal Patel, a broker with Everyhome of Pennsylvania Inc. in Skippack, Pa. “Many fall into this trap because, too often, they fail to read disclosures or simply do not understand the red flags when buying a new home.” Patel tries to warn her clients to be on the lookout for potential problems.

While a home inspection can help, buyers also should be on the lookout for signs that might indicate costly problems, such as a sagging roof, watermarks on the wall, poor ventilation or windows and doors that don’t shut properly. Even tiny cracks in the wall can indicate a foundation problem. “As a real estate professional, I have learned that most horrors come about when home buyers, in excitement, make an ill-advised home purchase,” Patel said. “This is most often the case when buyers make the mistake of buying without a proper inspection.”